• insulation1-peonie-series

To levitate could be conceived of as a supreme form of avoidance. The thing above refuses to touch the thing below. Yet these high and low entities are defined by their relationship to one another. Acts of levitation happen everyday. We hover above topics (propelled by repulsion, shame, embarrassment, denial, or malice) and this requires effort. The act of levitation always generates precarity, as gravity constantly threatens to exert direct contact.

In her exhibition, Levitate, Anne Magratten presents two groups of paintings that explore how sexuality, gender, or class can provoke this type of avoidance. In her series of still life paintings How Queer, Dear, she toys with visual conundrums specific to modern sexuality, gender, and queer identity. Employing humor and formalism she cloaks the taboo in the boring. In Insulation, she groups small observational paintings on cardboard questioning how materials, perspective, gender, and class shapes the value of art objects. 

Anne Magratten is a graduate of Mills College and received her MFA in Studio Art at The University of Oregon in 2015. She is an Instructor of Painting and Drawing at Linn Benton Community College. Additionally, she offers college Drawing courses within Oregon prisons. She is a member of the Eugene based artist collective Tropical Contemporary. Additional aspects of her art practice can be seen on her website http://www.annemagratten.com and the website of the collective https://www.tropicalcontemporary.space.

Willamette University

Studio Art

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